Chuck Schaden's Conversations with the Stars Who Made it Golden

Broadcaster/historian CHUCK SCHADEN was producer and host of the long-running Those Were the Days radio program from 1970 to 2009.

He has been nationally recognized for his efforts and was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1993, the only radio fan to be so honored.

A former newspaper editor and marketing executive, he turned his hobby into a vocation and drew from a collection of more than 50,000 vintage programs to prepare his broadcasts.

He was the founding editor and publisher of Nostalgia Digest (1974-2005). He edited and published The Cinnamon Bear Book, (1982) a nostalgic remembrance of the classic kids’ radio show. He is author of WBBM Radio: Yesterday and Today, (1988) a history of station WBBM, Chicago and is author of Speaking of Radio –Chuck Schaden’s conversations with the stars of the Golden Age of Radio, (2003) published by his Nostalgia Digest Press.

In 1974 he co-produced and co-starred with Jim Jordan, radio’s original Fibber McGee, in a seven-part series, Fibber McGee and the Good Old Days of Radio sponsored coast-to-coast by Chrysler Air Temp.

In 2006-07 he hosted the nationally syndicated old-time-radio series When Radio Was, replacing Stan Freberg.

A founding member of the Board of Directors of Chicago’s Museum of Broadcast Communications, he is a leading radio historian and a frequent resource for public libraries, metropolitan daily and community newspapers and colleges and universities throughout the country.

His has provided archival material to the Library of American Broadcasting at the University of Maryland and the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago.

Completing 39 years on the air, Chuck Schaden retired from broadcasting on June 27, 2009. During those years, he interviewed more than 200 performers, writers, producers, directors and sound effects people, all associated with the radio days.

His post-retirement project is sharing those conversations with visitors to this website.

Webmaster TODD NEBELhas been part of this website since its inception in 2011. He has been an avid radio fan since he was in high school. While in college he joined the Those Were The Days program team, initially answering phones during the Saturday broadcasts, becoming a part-time TWTD broadcast engineer in 1983. After college, he joined the staff full-time as producer, engineer and sales representative for Those Were The Days and Chuck Schaden’s WAIT Radio Theatre. And he was a frequent contributor to Nostalgia Digest from 1983-1997.

Contact Us

We’re happy to hear from you.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, you may reach Chuck Schaden at Box 421, Morton Grove, Illinois 60053-0421.
Phone (847) 965-7763.
Or, reach him by email at ....